Hong Kong’s own Kenzo Pannell (right), Rowan Varty and Mark Wright (below) are currently plying their trade in the Japanese corporate rugby league as part of the Toyota Jido Shokki Shuttles.

RugbyAsia Channel has maintained close links with the Hong Kong Boys while they are honing their skills abroad and put together this ‘exclusive’ video from within (video below):

The Springboks’ last minute loss to the Wallabies in the hosts’ final Tri-Nations encounter on Saturday evening made the Sunday Morning Post‘s sports-pages on Sunday.

With Hong Kong again hosting the final Bledisloe Cup match in October this year (the previous such match took place in 2008) there is renewed interest in the Southern Hemisphere’s premier competition, the Tri-Nations.

In fact, with Hong Kong Bledisloe Cup ticket sales reported to be sluggish this year (in part due to the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand next year) the Hong Kong rugby authorities are pinning their hopes on the Wallabies beating their Trans-Tasman opponents in next week’s final Tri-Nations encounter.  This, they hope, would make the third-ever Bledisloe Cup to be played on neutral ground more of a contest with the All Blacks having totally dominated the Tri-Nations this year.

Arch-rivals Japan stormed back from a 17-0 deficit to defeat Hong Kong 22-17 in the Cup quarterfinals of the 2010 Shanghai Sevens today.

The victory continues a grim losing record for Hong Kong who has lost their last four outings against the Asian powerhouse – twice in the regional sevens competition last year, in the gold medal final at the East Asian Games and on the second day at the Hong Kong Sevens in March.

Hong Kong head coach Dai Rees refused to be downhearted by the loss to Japan and firmly believes the two sides remain potential rivals for the coveted gold medal at the Asian Games in Guangzhou in November.

“At the end of the day, we are still the top two teams in Asia,” Rees said. “But the curse continues, our losing streak against Japan goes on. We played very well, but against a side like Japan, you have to nail that one per cent and we didn’t do that today.”

Hong Kong scored three early tries to take a 17-0 lead. They could have gone ahead 24-0 but a breakaway try was disallowed and they were called back for a scrum inside their 22. Japan won the scrum and scored a length-of-the field try just on halftime.

“That was a bit unfortunate as we could have put the game beyond them,” Rees said. “Then the momentum swung their way soon after the break when we missed a tackle to concede a soft try.”

Meanwhile, South Korea sounded an early warning to their rivals that they will be a force to reckon with at the Asian Games in Guangzhou (China) when they successfully defended the Shanghai Sevens title on Sunday.

Korea overcame partisan support and a strong challenge from hosts China in the Cup final to emerge worthy 38-17 winners to win the first of two ranking events in the IRB Asian Rugby Sevens Series and also grab the early psychological high ground.

The victory will pour cold water on the theory that Korea are a spent force in Asian rugby circles, and will firmly establish their credentials as serious contenders for a gold medal at the Guangzhou Games in November.

Despite being relegated from the elite division in the HSBC Asian Five Nations 15-a-side championship earlier this year and finishing fifth at last month’s Asian Under-20 Championship, Korea showed plenty of bottle to ward off all challengers in Shanghai.

Back home we have the Chris Burger Petro Jackson Fund who looks after the needs of rugby players who suffered serious injuries playing the game.

The Chris Burger Petro Jackson Players’ Fund pays homage to two young rugby players who died playing the game they loved.

In 1980, Western Province fullback Chris Burger broke his neck and died in a Currie Cup match in Bloemfontein. This led to the founding of the Chris Burger Fund by then WP captain Morné du Plessis and his teammates. Petro Jackson, a young player from Kylemore in Stellenbosch, died during a match in 1989, prompting (the pre-unity body) SARU to establish a similar fund in his honour. In 1992, the two Funds were united to form the Chris Burger Petro Jackson Players’ Fund, as it is still known today in its 30th anniversary year. For more information on the Fund, click here

Locally, as far as we know, there is no such support for players who suffer serious injuries playing the game we all love.

Recently a local player called Ben Kende suffered serious spinal injuries while representing HK in U.20′s World Cup qualifiers.

This is when RugbyAsia Channel (RAC) stepped up. The online channel, who provides the latest television rugby action, news, games, interviews from grassroots to club and international teams from around Hong Kong and the wider Asia region, came up with a novel idea to produce Hong Kong’s very first Rugby Calendar. They roped in some of the Territory’s finest players, brought in a professional photographer and put together what promises to be a hit amongst rugby supporters and local lasses alike. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the calendar will be donated to Kende.

Click here to visit RugbyAsia Channel on YouTube

All Blacks star flyhalf Dan Carter should be fit to play in their Bledisloe Cup match against Australia in Hong Kong in October, New Zealand captain Richie McCaw said on Monday.

Carter underwent surgery last week on a long-term ankle injury after the All Blacks wrapped up this year’s Tri-Nations championship with a 29-22 victory over South Africa.

He had been troubled by the ankle for more than three months and it started to become more of an aggravation towards the end of the Super 14 competition.

“Obviously Dan will miss our next match but the plan is for him to be available for Hong Kong,” McCaw said in a tele-conference.  “I don’t know 100 percent but he should be all right.”

Carter, who broke the record for rugby union Test points earlier this month, will miss the All Blacks’ final Tri-Nations match against Australia in Sydney on September 11.

The Hong Kong clash is on October 30, ahead of a four-Test northern hemisphere tour that sees them play England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

Tickets for the Hong Kong Bledisloe Cup clash are available at HK Ticketing

For more information about the Hong Kong leg of the 2010 Bledisloe Cup, click here

(Source: Sport24)

With yet another convincing win over trans-Tasman rivals Australia, New Zealand’s All Blacks retained the 2010 Bledisloe Cup (20-10).

The win in Christchurch (New Zealand) came after a 49-28 drubbing in Melbourne (Australia) a week before.

While there are still two matches to be played (Sydney September 11 and Hong Kong October 30), the All Blacks have wrapped up the 2010 contest in fine form.

This begs the question:

Will Bledisloe Cup #4 at the Hong Kong Stadium on Saturday October 30 be a boring affairs with the two teams simply going through the motions in preparation for their respective Northern Hemisphere Tours?

Yes, they will be going through the motions, but we suspect it will be anything but a boring affair.

For one, the Hong Kong leg will again serve as preparation for their Northern Hemisphere tours and the players will want to do everything they can to impress the selectors in order to feature in their respective starting line-ups for the Northern tour.

Secondly, when the two Antipodian sides last clashed in the SAR in 2008, the same situation existed with New Zealand again claiming the honours before a ball was even kicked at the Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po.  On that day, the Cup holders also took the honours (19-14).  Despite New Zealand lining up as Cup Champions in 2008, the HKRFU recorded an almost full-house and we predict the same will happen come October  30.

Hong Kong is a city with thousands of expatriates plying their trade in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) and a large majority hail from Down Under.  Coupled with that the fact that overall, most expats come from the UK (due to historical reasons) and you have potentially at least half of the HK Stadium capacity (20,000) who will buy tickets.  Due to it’s Sevens reputation as a great party destination and it’s relative proximity to Australia and New Zealand, many supporters from Down Under will also choose to follow their sides to Hong Kong, further swelling the gate takings in So Kon Po.

While the tickets are not cheap (the most expensive category ticket will set you back almost the same as a 3-day pass for the HK Sevens at HK$1,250) most rugby fans in Hong Kong are so starved of top-class rugby that they will easily pay up. The two lower categories are selling for HK$1,000 and HK$880 respectively.

Needless to say, Howzit-HongKong.com will bring you all the action from Bledisloe #4… Live from Hong Kong.

Stay close.

Saturday evening, October 30 will find Howzit-HongKong.com no where else but at Mes Amis in WanChai. Kevin Lewis captured the 2008 fun and music at this popular watering hole in the City’s premier party district.  This is how we party in Hong Kong!

Two years ago I attended the first-ever Bledisloe Cup match (New Zealand vs. Australia) to be played outside of these two countries.

The match, in terms of interest and exposure for the two brands, was a resounding success and last year the powers-that-be decided to try that experiment on Japanese soil.  I don’t know whether the New Zealand and Australian rugby boards were not impressed with their Japan outreach experiment, but thanks be to the rugby-gods that they decided to return the final match of the Bledisloe Cup series here in Hong Kong.

With the addition of the Hong Kong match, the Bledisloe Cup will be decided over four Tests in 2010.

Australia and New Zealand are scheduled to meet three times as part of the Tri-Nations Series and then contest the fourth and final match in Hong Kong.

The 2010 Bledisloe Cup Series

Match 1: Etihad Stadium, Melbourne (July 31)

Match 2: AMI Stadium, Christchurch (Aug 7)

Match 3: ANZ Stadium, Sydney (September 11)

Match 4: Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong (October 30)

Tickets

SA Association

Last I heard, the Southern African Association in Hong Kong (SAAHK) received another ticket allocation this year.  Please contact the SAAHK’s Bruce Fowler for more information.

Hong Kong Public Sales

From 2nd August onwards (10:00am) residents in Hong Kong (Hong Kong ID Card holders) will be able to purchase tickets through HK Ticketing online: www.hkticketing.com , by phone : +852 31 288 288 or at HK Ticketing Outlets including Box Offices and Tom Lee Music Stores.

For further details, please go to www.hkticketing.com

Pricing

The entire stadium will be reserved seating. Customers will be able to choose from and reserve the available seats in the stadium and a range of price options will apply depending on the location of the seats. Tickets are priced at HK$1,250, HK$1,000 and HK$880.

Bledisloe Cup

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Kick off at 4.30pm HKT (7.30pm AEDT; 9.30pm NZT).

Here are some pictures from the 2008 Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong:

Click here to visit the Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong website

The Bulls beat the Stormers by 25-17 to claim their third Super 14 trophy in their historic final at the Orlando stadium.  About 25 South Africans and friends gathered at Wooloomooloo Restaurant in Wyndham Street, Lan Kwai Fong to watch the historic match in Soweto.

Except for one lone excited Bulls fan, the atmosphere at Wooloomooloo was a tad subdued as the Bulls raced to an early lead in the historic match.  Needless to say, most of those in attendance are staunch Stormers supporters.

Wooloomooloo will be showing all the 2010 Football World Cup games.  Contact Raymond Lacdang at the Wyndham Street branch for more details.  They can also cater for group events.

Cheers to Bruce Fowler for making the arrangements at Wooloomooloo.

    Proudly Bulls! (Pic: Mike Jansen)

     Some of the Saffa crowd at Wooloomooloo last night (Pic: Mike Jansen)

    Anxious moments at Wooloomooloo (Pic: Mike Jansen)

    Well-known horse trainer Tony Millard (left) wasn’t very impressed (Pic: Mike Jansen)

With all the international rugby on telly over the last weekend, it was easy to have missed the final match of the Asian 5 Nations tournament between Japan and Hong Kong.  Luckily, here in Hong Kong the Tokyo-match was at a favourable time-slot on Saturday (1pm) which was before the first ball was kicked in the England Sevens or even the two Super14 Semi-finals later on Saturday evening (Bulls vs. Crusaders/Stormers vs. Waratahs).

I found myself in Happy Valley on Saturday morning and popped into The Canny Man in Wanchai where I watched the Asian 5 Nations game.

Asian powerhouse Japan qualified for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand with an emphatic 94-5 victory over Hong Kong in the HSBC Asian Five Nations Top Five competition in Tokyo on Saturday.

A slick Japanese outfit went on a 14-try rampage in their final game in the qualifying campaign to grab the solitary direct entry for the World Cup given to Asia.

I must say that I was really disappointed in the Hong Kong effort as they weren’t in the game at any time during the match.  I posted the final score on my FaceBook page and a friend who works for SA Rugby rightly asked: “Is rugby in Asia that bad that Japan could post such a big score?  Wasn’t Hong Kong 2nd on the log going into this game? “

Fair question and one that administrators in Asia should find an answer for. 

More heartache

There was more heartache for Hong Kong as Kazakhstan clinched the runner-up spot with a 32-25 win over South Korea in Incheon to claim the berth in the cross-continental play-off for RWC 2011 against Uruguay. Flanker Anton Rudoy scored a hat-trick as Kazakhstan scored four tries to secure the crucial bonus point that saw them edge ahead of Hong Kong in the standings.

Having posted half-century victories over all its opponents – South Korea (71-3), the Arabian Gulf (60-5) and Kazakhstan (101-7) – Japan continued in their merry fashion as they out-muscled Hong Kong at the breakdown, and pushed their opponents off their own ball in the scrums to stitch together another convincing victory.

“We have achieved our first goal this year which was to qualify for the World Cup,” said a pleased Japan coach John Kirwan. “The players have worked very hard and that was our best performance in the competition so far. But there is a long way to go.”

Japan will play in Pool A at the World Cup alongside hosts New Zealand, France, Tonga and Canada.

Always the joker

“It is an easy pool,”joked Kirwan. “But really, this is a fantastic opportunity for the players whose dream is to play at a World Cup. Hopefully we can show the Japanese style of rugby.”

Kirwan went on to thank the Japanese crowd for their support in fluent Japanese. 

                 Match captain Hitoshi Ono prepares to receive the impressive HSBC A5N trophy

With one foot already in the door, high-flying Japan is confident of sealing its berth at IRB Rugby World Cup 2011 when they take on Hong Kong in their final game of the HSBC Asian Five Nations (HSBC A5N) Top Five competition in Tokyo on Saturday.

In the second match of the weekend, Kazakhstan finds itself in the unique position of either finishing as A5N runners-up and entering the cross-continental play-off for RWC 2011 or facing relegation to Division I against Korea.

 Japan only need a point from their final match and as such, even a draw will do. But this will be furthest from the mind of coach John Kirwan who is demanding a complete 80-minute performance from his team.

Kirwan made three changes to the team that thrashed Kazakhstan 101-7 last week for the HSBC Asian Five Nations finale against Hong Kong on Saturday. Ryu Holani returns at No. 8, Alisi Tupuailei is named on the wing and Shinsuke Nakamura starts at tighthead as Japan look to maintain their perfect record in the A5N and, more importantly, qualify for next year’s Rugby World Cup.

“We wanted to make sure Holani was 100 percent right and we need to see how Nakamura has improved,” Kirwan said of the changes.

Holani’s return at No. 8 – his last cap was in November 2008 – means Masakazu Toyota shifts from No. 8 to No. 6. Elsewhere the team is pretty much the side that started against South Korea and Kazakhstan.

“We want to go to the World Cup so we have picked the best team,” Kirwan said.

Shota Horie lines up at hooker with Hisateru Hirashima and Nakamura either side of him. Hitoshi Ono, who will again lead the side, pairs up with Luke Thompson in the engine room with Touetsu Taufa at openside. Fumiaki Tanaka and Shaun Webb carry on at halfback with the Suntory pair of Ryan Nicholas and Koji Taira in the centres, Kosuke Endo on the wing and Goshi Tachikawa at fullback.

Japan goes into the game needing just a point to book its place in Pool A in New Zealand. But that didn’t stop Kirwan from having a few harsh words for his team after what he believed was a less-than-satisfactory captain’s run on Friday.

“I am not happy with the quality of training. I just hope we play better than we train,” he said.

Hong Kong still in with a chance

Hong Kong arrives in Tokyo with high hopes of grabbing the runner-up spot and keeping the dream alive of qualifying for the World Cup through the cross-continental play-offs.

Hong Kong is currently on 12 points and need to beat Japan or grab a bonus point by scoring four tries or finishing within a seven-point margin of defeat to secure the runner-up slot. Failing this, they will have to hope that Kazakhstan either lose to South Korea in the other game on Saturday in Incheon, Korea, or if they win, fail to pick up a bonus point.

“It will be all about us performing in Tokyo and not about how others are playing,” said Hong Kong head coach Dai Rees. “Our problem so far has been that we are underachieving in terms of ball retention. As far as defence goes, I’m happy. We have conceded only two tries so far this season.”

One of those tries was an intercept try which earned the Arabian Gulf a 16-9 victory that put paid to Hong Kong’s plans of going to Tokyo with the runner-up slot secured.

Hong Kong defeated South Korea 32-8 in their opening game and defeated Kazakhstan 19-15 two weeks ago. Both wins came at home.

“If someone at the beginning of the tournament had said you would beat South Korea and Kazakhstan and you would be disappointed, I wouldn’t have believed him,” Rees said after Hong Kong’s win over Kazakhstan.

Hong Kong have made a number of changes to that side due to injury and the absence of veteran forward Nigel Clarke who will be getting married in England on Saturday.

In the front row, an injury in training to tighthead prop Nigel Hobler has resulted in youngster Alex Ng Wai-shing being drafted into the hot seat. James Stokes comes in at lock to replace Clarke while in the backrow Kwok Ka-chun will replace the injured Nick Hewson at blindside.

Up-and-coming youngster Kenneth Hsieh Chun-hang will win his first cap and start at scrum-half with regular Tim Alexander on the bench. Alexander has been in the wars, and Rees wants to give him as much time as possible to recover. The rest of the backline will be the same, but on the bench, there will be a few new faces including flanker Renaud Chavanis, centre Tsang Hing-hung and winger Adam Raby who gets his first opportunity this season.

Japanese counterpart Kirwan will have the luxury of selecting from a full squad. He has given every player in an extended squad a run this season, and is happy with what he has seen so far.

“When we get over the advantage line early and get quick ball we are pretty hard to stop,” Kirwan said.

This will be the worry for Hong Kong as they bid to clinch second spot in the Top Five.

But Hong Kong isn’t the only team with worries heading into the final week’s action. In Incheon, a disappointed Korea team will be throwing everything into a last-ditch effort to repel visiting Kazakhstan and avoid what would have been unthinkable just four weeks ago – relegation to next year’s Division I championship.

Kazakhstan meanwhile face a conundrum: how to approach the match against Korea where a bonus point will see them off to Uruguay for the RWC repechage while a loss and conceding a bonus point will see them relegated to Division I.

The game is “win or die” according to Kazakhstan captain and No. 8 Timur Mashurov, “Korea will fight for every ball, for every cm of the pitch”.

Fortunately for the hosts, Korea have star lock You Young Nam back after his four-week match ban was reduced to three weeks on appeal. You was named the top player in his position in Japan’s professional Top League last season. You’s appearance could be decisive in a match that is likely to be won or lost up front.

Kazakhstan coach Evgeniy Zuev’s objective is for his side “to play more with the ball. We need to get more share of the ball from scrums and lineouts than we have so far in the competition. But most importantly in the last week of the A5N I want the team to demonstrate what they can do and show how people from Kazakhstan can play rugby.”

Kazakhstan will be relying on Mashurov and star flanker Anton Rudoy this weekend in what promises to be a tense encounter in Incheon.

“It is still too far to qualify for World Cup even if we get second place there is a long process for us to navigate. But as for relegation, it is just behind the corner”, added captain Mashurov, indicating the focus for this weekend in Incheon is firmly on retaining a spot in Asia’s top tier rugby competition, the HSBC Asian 5 Nations.

Starting Line-ups:

Japan:

1. Hirashima, Hisateru 2. Horie, Shota 3. Nakamura, Shinsuke 4. Ono ©, Hitoshi 5. Thompson, Luke 6. Toyota, Masakazu 7. Taufa, Touetsu 8. Holani, Ryukoliniaishi 9. Tanaka, Fumiaki 10. Webb, Shaun 11. Endo, Kosuke 12. Nicholas, Ryan 13. Taira, Koji 14. Tupuailei Alisi 15. Tachikawa, Goshi 16. Yuhara, Hiroki 17. Kawamata, Naoki 18. Toshizumi Kitagawa 19. Leitch, Michael 20. Yoshida, Tomoki 21. Arlidge, James 22. Matsushita Kaoru

Hong Kong

1. Spizziri, Peter 2. Abel, Jon 3. NG, Alex Wai Shing, 4. Stokes, James 5. French, Charles 6. Kwok, Ka Chun 7. Wright, Mark 8. Leung, Simon Ho Yam © 9. Hsieh, Chun-Hang Kenneth 10. Robertson, Keith 11. McQueen, Alex 12. Hempel, Simon 13. Varty, Rowan 14. Yiu, Salom Kam Shing 15. Bisley, Colin 16. Baddeley, Alex 17. Bennett, Jack 18. Chavanis, Renaud 19. Hussey, Rory 20. Alexander, Tim 21. Tsang, Hing Hung 22. Raby, Adam